


Change

by SheWantsItAll



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Fluff, HIV positive Whizzer Brown, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Marvin, M/M, Photographer Whizzer Brown, Short & Sweet, they have a daughter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29752842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SheWantsItAll/pseuds/SheWantsItAll
Summary: Marvin gets fired and worries about the future and the way that things will change for him and his family.
Relationships: Whizzer Brown/Marvin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 42





	Change

Marvin sat in his seat on the subway, a box with all of the personal contents of his office in his lap. He had gotten fired. The reason didn't matter. What mattered was that there was now no way for him to support his family. 

How were they going to live? Yes, they had savings, but they also had rent and child support and medical bills, and their half of the monthly contribution to Jason's soon needed college fund. They also had prescriptions they both _needed_ that, with his insurance, were almost completely covered, and without insurance were so unreasonably expensive. How were they supposed to pay for them now that the insurance was gone? It wasn't like they had a choice. They _had_ to have them. He didn't think he'd ever been so worried in his life. 

He dragged himself and his box up the four flights of steps to his and Whizzer's apartment. The elevator was out of order again and he found himself wishing they could move to a building that was better taken care of, before remembering that they were probably going to end up having to move somewhere worse- if they could even find somewhere to move to. 

When he walked in, the entire apartment smelled like tomato sauce. It was, by all indicators, a typical Tuesday. But Marvin knew it was anything but a typical Tuesday. He carefully stashed his box in the entryway, hoping that Whizzer wouldn't find it until after he had the chance to explain. 

He walked through the house, searching for his husband and their sweet little baby Layla. He found Whizzer standing in the kitchen, stirring a pot and greeted him with a kiss. He forced himself to smile, hoping that Whizzer wouldn't notice something was wrong- he wasn't ready to tell him what had happened yet. He was disappointed to find out that Layla was with The Lesbians for the evening. He wanted them to spend as much time with her as they could- just in case...

They had both been dancing around each other's news the entire meal. Whizzer trying to keep all of his excitement off of his face and Marvin trying to keep it all together. He poked at the meal Whizzer had prepared. It looked delicious and he knew he'd worked hard, but he could barely bring himself to eat anything. He was so worried, not only about their future, but also about how Whizzer would react. He had really messed up. He wasn't going to be able to provide for them. If he couldn't do that, what was he good for? 

"Okay… so I have something I need to tell you…" Marvin said, nervousness clear in his voice. It didn't go unnoticed. 

"Oh! I have something to tell you too," 

"Why don't you go first?" He had spoken too soon. He wasn't ready. He couldn't tell him yet. He has let them both down by getting himself fired. 

"You said it first. How about this.. we'll both tell our news on three? One…"

"Two…"

"Three," they said together. 

"I got a job!" Whizzer exclaimed, excitement on full display. 

At the same time Marvin said, "I got fired."

He saw the look of surprise on Whizzer's face and started to ramble, frantically trying to explain himself, "They let me go and our insurance is gone and I don't know what we're going to do and I'm so, _so_ , sorry." He stopped abruptly and his eyes widened. "Wait, you what?"

Whizzer was completely shocked at Marvin's news. How had this happened? From what he knew everything was fine at work. From what he knew, Marvin was in line for and hopeful to receive a promotion. Their days had been so different- most of the time that he had spent completely overjoyed- calling his mom to tell her the news, dancing around the house with Layla, and cooking victory linguine, Marvin had spent worried about their well being and what Whizzer knew he saw as his own personal failure. 

"I got a job… well, a job offer- one of my old professors called. He saw some of my photographs in that magazine and offered me a position as an adjunct photography professor for the year. I told him that I would have to talk to you about it first, and figure out what we would do with Layla, but I'm really excited about it. It sounds like it came at a good time…what happened??"

Marvin felt pure unadulterated relief crash over him in waves. They weren't going to be homeless. They weren't going to die. No one was going to come and take their baby because they couldn't afford to take care of her anymore. They were going to be okay. He didn't realize that he was crying until Whizzer came around the table and wrapped his arms around him. Marvin hugged him tightly feeling safe and warm and oh so _relieved_.

"Sorry.." he mumbled, pulling away and wiping his eyes on his sleeve, "I was just so worried, I just..." he trailed off, forcing himself to take a deep, shaky, breath. Everything was going to be okay. They were going to be fine.

"Don't be sorry. Come on- wanna tell me what happened?" Whizzer wrapped one arm around his shoulders and gently guided them towards their living room, sights set on the couch. 

They curled up together, fingers intertwined, and Marvin told him all about what happened- that he had lost the account when his homophobic client saw their family picture on his desk. That he thought his boss had been out to get rid of him ever since he found out, but that he'd never actually had a reason to do it until he had lost this huge client. He felt silly for having been so worried that Whizzer would react badly and leave or berate him. Ever since they got back together they had both been nothing but supportive of each other. This situation was no different. He felt so lucky. 

~~~

Being a stay at home dad, Marvin had decided, was more exhausting than any other job he'd ever had. But it was also more fulfilling than any other job he'd ever had. All of the wonderful parts were worth the not so great parts. It was worth the cleaning. It was worth the laundry. 

He loved that they got to have breakfast together as family because Whizzer's hours were different than his had been. He loved taking Layla to her half day of preschool, picking her up and having time to play with her one on one before Whizzer came home- something he had missed out on in the year since they had adopted her. He loved Cordelia's cooking lessons- he'd only set the fire alarm off twice over the last week, a vast improvement from nine times the week before, and he'd actually managed to put together dinner a few times without resorting to take out. 

More than anything else, he loved how happy Whizzer seemed to be. He came home every day with stories about his students and a big smile on his face. He always said that he was happy staying home, but Marvin thought he seemed happier than he ever had, doing what he loved both outside of the house and after he came home. 

Marvin found that _he_ was happy too. He didn't think he could ever be happy staying home, taking care of their child, and letting Whizzer take care of them financially. He used to think that was the "woman's" role. The _weaker_ role. He realized that he had never been so wrong. There was no place he would rather be. Sometimes, change was a good thing. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! Thanks for reading and I hope that you are well! 💖
> 
> Idk how I feel about this one. I wasn't ready to tackle another story with the kiddos but I wanted to write something and this just sort of... happened. I think I probably need to just stay in my lane. ANYWAY. Let me know what you think?
> 
> Stay safe, wear a mask, and wash your hands! 💖💖💖


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